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1.1.12-Pilferingapples
Brick!Club Book 1:Fantine Chapter 12: The Solitude of Monseigneur Bienvenu Whoa this is super-late, thanks, unexpected Tumblrcrash! I usually try to get everything up by afternoon at least, to allow for discussion, but..this time I honestly don’t know what there is to discuss. I mean, Hugo is pretty blatantly not even talking about the Bishop in this chapter, just using him to talk about how some people are self-serving jerks, and that people like doing favors for people who can return those favors. Which… yeah, true. It’s a downer? But this chapter especially seems to be about the corruption of church purpose by its worldly power, with all the talk of young clergy (clergy, right? It’s all clergy?) looking to serve their superiors instead of their calling. Which, not gonna argue with Hugo on this, but I’m intrigued by the examples of accidental fortune he rattles off towards the end, especially the army boots. The cardboard soles were a real and recurring problem for armies for decades to come; I hadn’t expected them to be an issue this far back, somehow. When did cardboard even get popular? It was apparently invented in 1817. So…the story’s not even in 1815. The cardboard soles scam would be outright cutting edge! Hugo, your sense of chronology is confusing and I am confused. Next, more religious talk! Ok! I just wiki’d actual cardboard, clearly I need more minutiae in my life. Commentary Gascon-en-exile Fun fact: The “white-billed priests” mentioned in the first paragraph are “''les prêtres blancs-becs''" in the original, the same idiomatic mild insult Gavroche throws at Enjolras. I wonder why it’s translated literally here but becomes "smooth-face" with Enjolras? Difference between an omnipotent author referring to an idiomatic expression and the dialogue of a gamin, I suppose? Fun facts is about all I have to offer here, because this is yet another philosophical polemic, this one against the false dazzle of success. All the talk about young men looking to the priesthood as a means of advancement - and quite the advancement too, because as Hugo points out it’s just about the only way to potentially be greater than a king - reminds me of Stendhal’s Le Rouge et le Noir. The title (probably?) has no relation to that of the Amis’ song from the musical; it is instead a reference to the military and the clergy as paths for aspiring social climbers in Restoration France. The noir would then refer to a priest’s cassock, which as we already know Myriel hides beneath a traveling cloak for practical purposes. The effect is that he doesn’t readily display his office or the status that comes with it, so is it any wonder that the local Julien Sorels want nothing to do with him? Pilferingapples (reply to Gascon-en-exile) Fun facts are good! I feel like this chapter doesn’t lead to much discussion on philosophical issues, even though that’s what it’s ABOUT, because it’s so straightforward it’s pretty much a textbook question. “Do you believe clergy should value advancement over personal sacrifice? Why or why not?” So I’m happy to have some language trivia, thanks!